Cox High School Virginia Beach map

First Colonial High School Virginia Beach map

Kellam High School Virginia Beach map

Here’s another great Virginia Beach public school map tool

A year ago my wife and I discussed our five year plan for the kids. My oldest daughter would start Kindergarten in the fall and we wanted to make sure that we were positioned to put her in the best middle and high schools in Virginia Beach. We wanted to send her to Cox High School or First Colonial High School (in part because that’s where I wanted to live). A few months later we suddenly found ourselves moving. You can read more here about Alanton in Virginia Beach.

The best high school in Hampton Roads is The Norfolk Academy. The Old Donation Center, the gifted program for Virginia Beach City Public Schools is outstanding. The Norfolk Academy will cost you $18,000 per year. Your child has to test into the Old Donation Center, but everyone is eligible.

I have my own thoughts on the importance of high school. My sister went to a private elementary school and then to public high school. I went to public elementary school and then to a private high school. We both turned out fine, with no real advantage going to either public or private schools. In “Outliers, The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, he argues that talent is not as important as opportunity. If you apply this to the best high schools in Virginia Beach, all three of them offer the opportunity. I propose that surrounding yourself with successful people is one of the best things you can do for your kids. Choosing one of the best neighborhoods in any of these three high school districts in Virginia Beach will guarantee interaction with other interesting motivated people. Is there a better way to help your child thrive?

So now that you know the best high schools in Virginia Beach, perhaps it is time to find the best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach! It should not surprise you that many of them will be in the Cox, First Colonial, or Kellam high school districts.

521 Hunts Pointe Drive in Virginia Beach

Click here for a full screen virtual tour.

Kellam High School, Princess Anne Middle School, Christopher Farms Elementary.

Welcome to Princess Anne Crossing,  a private neighborhood tucked away right next to Christopher Farms in Virginia Beach. The virtual tour tells the story. Enjoy!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

 

The short answer is “no.” But it should be in the ball park. The City of Virginia Beach Real Estate Assessors Office does its best to assign a value to every property for tax purposes.

The current tax rate is $0.89 for every $100 of assessed value in Virginia Beach

However, market value can vary widely from your tax assessment. Every year at around tax season, I get phone calls from confused homeowners with questions about the tax assessment. About half of them are frustrated that the tax assessment is too high. This is the group that is planning to stay in their homes for awhile. The other half are frustrated that their tax assessment is too low. This is the group who plans to sell soon and thinks that the tax assessment is an appraisal.

Last week I got a call from a client who is selling her home. The tax assessment came in at $348,000 and we have the house listed at $350,000. After a bit of research I came up with the following data. There were 5 comparable houses that had sold within the previous 4 months that had tax assessments of about $350,000. They sold for…

$359,000
$330,000
$309,000
$290,000

That is a pretty wide spread for nearly identical assessments, wouldn’t you agree? To make things even more confusing, the homes in some neighborhoods routinely sell for more than the tax assessment while the homes in other neighborhoods routinely sell for less than the tax assessment. What is a confused homeowner to do?

So don’t think about the tax assessment as market value because it is not. It is simply a tool used by the city to distribute the property taxes fairly. If you want an accurate measure of market value I can give that to you by doing a CMA (comparable market analysis). By finding homes similar to yours in size, condition, and neighborhood, I can find a fairly narrow price range in which your home is likely to sell.

And I’ll do it for free! You can also get an appraisal, but that will cost you about $300. Appraisals are required by lenders for new home purchases and refinancing, but are no better or worse than a good CMA.

Every time I put a house on the market I do a detailed CMA to give the homeowner a current and realistic estimate of market value. Would you like one? Just fill in the form below and I’ll get back to you with a list of comparable properties complete with interior pictures.

WilliamLayton.com

Having young children taught me more about sales than nearly 15 years in the Navy. So when I left active duty and fell in love with real estate, I had a lot to learn. Contrary to the image of the used car salesman, I found that sales require finesse and preparation. Successful salesmen set the stage to let the customer buy. It is imperative for the buyer to come to her decision on her own. Nowhere is this truer than when selling your house.

I joke that I got my MBA through Amazon.com. Here’s a look at one of my bookshelves.

How to Sell Anything to Anybody by Joe Girard
Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
The Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Soft Selling in a Hard World by Jerry Vass
All Marketers Tell Stories by Seth Godin
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn
Endless Referrals by Bob Burg
Most Common Sales Mistakes and How to Avoid Them by Stephan Schiffman
Neuromarketing by Patrick Renvoise
Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell
Zig Ziglar’s Secrets to Closing a Sale
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller
The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
You, Inc. – The Art of Selling Yourself by Harry Beckwith

…and the list goes on and on. There are many ideas in these books that repeat themselves, but one stands out above the rest. Successful salesmen don’t sell, they help the buyer buy. You can’t force your kids to eat their dinner; you have to present it to them in a way so that they decide to eat it on their own.
You may live in the best neighborhood in Virginia Beach and have the best house in the neighborhood, but the buyer does not want to hear it from you. There are over 3000 homes for sale in Virginia Beach right now.

600 say they are beautiful.
100 say they are the best.
250 say they are gorgeous.
1000 say they are great.

Will you stand out by telling the buyers you are the best? Not likely. Simply being the best home in the best neighborhood is not good enough for today’s buyers. You have to show them. You won’t be selling your house. You will be helping them discover that your house is their best choice.

Declutter and Neutralize

After living in a home for many years, it is tough to imagine how another person might feel when seeing it for the first time. That first impression is extremely important. It is crucial that we get it right. As a general rule, take away any personal belongings that might stand out. Start packing early and clear off the horizontal surfaces. Put the family pictures in boxes.  Neutralize as much as possible. White trim and off-white walls are very popular in new construction and HGTV. You can’t go wrong with neutral. Most of the time this is all that is needed. Every family is different; every house unique. It is normal to be anxious about the details. I will be able to help you out with anything you might have overlooked.

The most important thing about selling your house is understanding that you are not really selling your house. It is my job to get buyers into your house. It is our job to get them to love it. Only then will they buy it.

Make on offer contingent upon the sale of your current home – I am not a big fan of this option because it doesn’t really buy you anything. The seller will more than likely add a term to the contract know as “a first right of refusal.”  If another buyer comes along and wants to buy the house, you will have a certain time period, usually 48 hours, to remove the contingency, after which your contract is void.

If you put down a nonrefundable deposit, let’s say $10000, it is possible the seller will leave out the first right of refusal, but then you run the risk of losing your deposit if your current home doesn’t sell.

Close on both your current house and your new house on the same day – This is my favorite solution. But you have to put your current house on the market and have a solid offer in hand before making an offer on your new home. You can still make the offer on the new home contingent upon the sale of your old home, but the seller is much more likely to take it. Again, this is my favorite solution.

Lease with an option to buy – Let’s say your old home hasn’t sold in San Diego and you are arriving here in Virginia Beach tomorrow. What can you do? Since you want to buy a house and you need a place to live, you can find a seller who is open to an “early possession agreement.” This allows you to move into the house you want to buy before you actually own it. However, put yourself in the seller’s shoes. Would you want someone moving into your house and paying rent when you really wanted to sell it? Perhaps he needs to sell his house before he can buy his next one, just like you! In this situation, the seller will likely ask for some kind of guarantee that you will buy the house. Depending on the price of the house, this could be a five or ten thousand dollar nonrefundable deposit, or more, on top of a monthly rent. If everything works out, your deposit goes towards the purchase price. This is why it is important that you have realistic expectations concerning the future sale price of your current house. Just so you know, I have yet to run into someone whose home has sold for more than they thought it would.

There are some other subtle variations on these three options, but every sale is different. The trick is finding a solution that is acceptable to both the buyer and the seller. As I always say, “you’ll never know until you ask.” That’s why it always helps to ask with a fair offer and a smile on your face!
If you have any questions about your unique situation, please call or email. I’ll be happy to discuss your options.

First let me tell you a story to make a point. I was planning a trip to Disney World and started looking for places to stay online. Google returned 671,000 results for “Disney World lodging.” I spent hours looking at sites and reading reviews. The choices were overwhelming and expensive, and I had no idea who to trust. A couple days later I ran into a friend who had just returned from Orlando. He told me where to stay and what to do. While this was not the most sophisticated research option, it certainly simplified the process and saved me a whole lot of time.

Searching for the right home is no different. If you search “Virginia Beach homes,” Google will return 40,000,000 results. Try going through all those in one night. Even if you do, you won’t be any closer to finding the right home. For that you need someone to simplify the process.

I am that someone! Tell me your story and I will find you the right home in the right neighborhood. It’s as simple as that. Selling homes in more about people than it is about real estate. After a few days of house hunting, lunch at Panera, and a couple pit stops at 7-Eleven, we will have narrowed down your choices to two or three. I know from experience that you can’t do that with Realtor.com. As an added bonus, I have a great sense of humor and drive a very comfortable car (though not flashy).

At the end of the day, it’s all about you. Let’s find you the right home in the right neighborhood, the right lender, the right insurance company, the right settlement agent, the right home inspector… the list goes on and on. If you are still in the hunt for a real estate agent, stop looking! You found a good one right here. I won’t require you to sign anything and you pay me nothing, ever. I’m simply here to help.

So, wait no longer. Call me right now and let’s find you a place to call home.

757-621-8995 or Will@WilliamLayton.com

Who is Will Layton?

Virginia Beach neighborhood expert, licensed real estate agent with Wainwright Real Estate, BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University, Navy veteran, fighter pilot, world traveler, self proclaimed home improvement guru, father of two little girls, and he always wears a shirt and tie when house hunting.

There are different strokes for different folks. This is the reason that you should strive to keep an open mind. What matters the most is what you think as a potential buyer. Your best friend assumes that because she is happy in a certain neighborhood that you will be happy there too. Maybe, but maybe not. There are thousands of homes for sale in Virginia Beach in hundreds of neighborhoods and there are happy people in all of them.

The trick is finding the right neighborhood for you. First you have to figure out what you like. Do you like new or do you like established? While everyone likes the idea of a brand new home that is maintenance free, some people long for the trees missing from new developments. “Why would I live in an old home when I could have a brand new one,” one buyer asks? “New neighborhoods have no soul,” says another. No two people are alike. Lucky, no two neighborhoods are alike either.

Trying to find your home online is not unlike trying to find your spouse online. There are some things that you just have to do in person. I don’t know anything about online dating, but I can’t imagine making the decision to marry someone before making eye contact. You can find some beautiful homes online that are in questionable neighborhoods. On the flip side, there are some homes marketed poorly online that are in great neighborhoods. How do you tell the difference?

You have to get out there, drive though the neighborhoods, and walk through the homes. Only then can you start to match the real world with what you have seen online. With that in mind, I would love to be your guide!

There’s a statistic I look at every day. The number of homes that were sold for the week in Virginia Beach and the number of new listings. The number of sold homes is outpacing the number of new listings for the first time in years.  This bodes very well for next Spring and Summer.

Here’s a wake up call. Prices are low! Interest rates are low! If you have been considering moving to a nicer neighborhood, now is the time. If you consider both the drop in prices and the drop in interest rates, your monthly payment will be just over half of what it would have been had you purchased in 2006.

Half! Half! Half!

Knock! Knock! Knock!

That’s opportunity knocking. Is it time to let him in?

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has extended the tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence. The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

For sales occurring after November 6, 2009, the Act establishes income limits of $125,000 for single taxpayers and $225,000 for married couples filing joint returns.

The income limits for sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married taxpayers filing joint returns.

Tax Credit For Repeat Buyers

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has established a tax credit of up to $6,500 for qualified move-up/repeat home buyers (existing home owners) purchasing a principal residence after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010 (or purchased by June 30, 2010 with a binding sales contract signed by April 30, 2010).

Click here for FAQ’s involving the tax credits.